3 of Me – Tony Agnesi

“Last night I had a dream, and there were three of me. There was the man I was, the man I am, and the man I want to be.” –William Bell, Marc Cohn, John Leventhal

We all have three versions of ourselves playing in our minds. The me I was, the me I am, and the me I want to be.

We can look back into the past at the person we were. Sometimes, that can be a pleasant thought of a playful kid riding a bike, swimming or playing baseball. Or, it could be a troubled child from a struggling single parent home, being bullied, experimenting with drugs or hanging out with a gang.

We can think about the person we are now. We might be a successful spouse and parent with a great job, beautiful home and wonderful family and friends. Or, we can be a helpless addict, hooked on heroin as a result of abusing pain killers, near divorce, bankruptcy, and estranged from family and friends.

And, we can think about the person we truly want to be. But, doing so, we must consider the changes we need to make in our lives to get there. For some, we are already on that path. For others, it will require sacrifice, hard work and determination to get there.

As we reflect there are a few things we need to remember; the past is the past. We must put it behind us, learn from it, and refuse to dwell in it.

There is an old saying that we should exhale the past and inhale the future.

At the jail this week, we talked about releasing the past. I shared that no matter how hard or painful the past is we can always begin again. We are never defined by our past we just learn from it and that is the beauty of our Christian faith.

Jesus died for our sins. He died for all of us and for every sin. He offers us a new beginning if we choose to take it; a beginning of forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. He offers us everlasting life!

But to have a the future and be the person we want to be, we need to be focused on the present, live in the present, and not let yesterday take up to much of today.

How can we do this? How can we stay focused on what we need to do today to assure our future, to be the person we want to be?

Here are a few thoughts:

Life happens in the present. We need to stay focused on the solutions and not focus on our troubles. We waste our time dwelling in the past.
We need to stay focused on Jesus. By staying focused on Jesus and be faithful to his promise. In Hebrews 2:12 we read that we should, “keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” Jesus is always faithful to us and He is there to help us accomplish our goals.

[pullquote]“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it.” –1 Thessalonians 5:24[/pullquote]

We need to ask for God’s help every day. A morning prayer I share with the inmates is simply this, “Jesus, help me get through this day to become the person I want to be.”
We need to avoid distractions. Bad relationships, problems at work, traffic jams, and disappointments with others can take our focus off our goals. As we learn in Colossians 3:2, “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” We need to focus on Jesus.

[pullquote]“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” –Luke 9:23[/pullquote]

5. We need to pray. Having a strong prayer life and praying every day become a great habit. It keeps us from dwelling in the past and helps us to focus on our future by living our best life in the present.

Yes we all have three ME’s. We must release the me I was, stay focused on the me I am, and be moving toward the me I want to be. Let’s stay focused on and faithful to Jesus!

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